I want to go to the midnight laundrette
in the rain, but it’s optional -
when doing laundry isn’t.
I want to hear those agonised stomachs,
spinning and churning
last week’s montage, whilst
the gentlemen’s club plays jazz,
tonight, The Love Theme from Spartacus
rolling over the wind-rushed signs,
who shout in neon
and dance like wildflowers
for attention in stillness,
metal spins and signals flashing
like the glint of strangers’ eyes,
in the essence of light and life,
perched on a wet curb with
the weekend’s drawn-out dirt
spinning behind me,
a simple, warm background noise
to one moment of nothing
Emily J Helen (@emilyjhelen) is an English Literature student, writer and poet. Appointed as her county's Young Poet Laureate in 2017, she is presently creating and compiling poetry for her first collection.